From shoe hole clips to trouser holders, Sonam Sakhuja’s idiosyncratic, unconventional jewellery can have a practical function and a story to teach. The designer talks us through her personal creative process… and how
it all fuses together.
Rome-based Indian jewellery designer Sonam Sakhuja’s work is informed by deep memories from the past; by the craft cultures she was born into…
On the other hand, “my current contemporary self tries to bring out the surprise factor in my pieces, increasing the curiosity of the observer, while keeping design and utility in mind”.
Sonam has been involved in design since childhood, born to a sculptor father and painter mother: “Jewellery found me when I was seven years old, but I only found it at 20! I made a lot of jewellery when I was small, but just for fun –
never as something I wanted to do as a grown-up.”
Her father, Sushil Sakhuja, is an international sculptor in India. Since childhood, she was always keen on going to his workshop and making random objects. Growing up, a 10-year-old Sonam translated this into wanting to be a fashion designer. But during her fashion design course, she realised she wanted more from design than just clothing.
“I wanted to use more materials and make objects. I enjoyed that thought a lot, and so, I chose jewellery to be my road to find the designer I could be.”
Since her father works with bell metal and brass sculptures, she is naturally more inclined towards using brass and lost-wax casting, used in Dhokra art – the slow and beautiful process of casting beeswax models into metal – which she is most experienced with.
Although always gravitating towards brass, Sonam also works with materials like silicone, leather and wood: “When using a new material, I like to play with it and see how it wants to be treated, rather than designing first and then implementing,” she says.
The only complexity Sonam sometimes faces working with her chosen materials is the practicality of some products. “But heels have taught me that it is OK to just care about beauty and elevation once in a while,” the designer laughs.
So, what makes her work stand out? Without doubt, the surprise element, Sonam shoots. In fact, her unique and unconventional pieces are not only
worn on obvious body parts, but can find themselves in odd places, having,
at once, a practical and highly decorative function.
One of her “strangest” creations would be her shoe hole clips. It is not evident at first glance what their function is, but that is where the element of surprise comes in.
“My personal favourite has to be the trouser holder, which is very strong both for its story and utility perspective,” Sonam says.
Her ‘ominous’ bird claw is not the softest of touches, moving away from the delicate and feminine to a more ‘macabre’ statement – again “for the purpose of telling a story”.
Every piece needs to have a story and should be able to talk to people or make them talk
As part of an important project on endangered species, called Rare Aware, the jewellery piece that depicts a claw and hand tied together portrays the strength in the collaboration between humans and animals towards living as equals, Sonam explains.
“From the practical point of view, this piece is used to hold loose trousers together, as a buckle.”
So, what does jewellery actually mean to the designer and what is its ultimate aim? “I am yet to understand that,” Sonam replies. “My search is based on finding this new common ground; a new equilibrium between my memories and my current being.
“How would the characters of my past, of different materials, handle my contemporary body? How would they find zones of our common comfort?
“I enquire. I search. My work is defined by this ethos. It is located in a passionate, but personal search.”
Sonam hopes buyers and users of her work would identify with this search and, after wearing and using these pieces, would embark on a journey of their own.
“Finally, we have to be the landing ground for what we design. Our body has to be the receptacle of our creation.
“I would somehow want my jewellery to be like a book. Every time you buy one, you learn something new from its story.”
As for where a jewellery piece is born and how its proceeds to materialise from the seed in her head, “emotions and reality” are what inspire Sonam most and always find their way into her designs.
“The world’s current situation, my own current situation, reminding people about forgotten stories, etc… these could be some of the areas that allow my brain to create.
“Every piece needs to have a story and should be able to talk to people or make them talk.”
For her personal collection, some pieces go on to be made in India and others in Rome, depending on the requirements. And if they are customised, Sonam first likes to have a story-telling session with the buyer to come up with something together.
“I like to make sure they feel they have created something,” she says. And that opportunity will be offered locally as Sonam plans to share her knowledge, ideas and creativity in jewellery workshops at the boutique store Birgu Blue in the near future.
“Design is a flexible experience. It moulds its requirements, depending on the person working with it,” she says.
Through the workshops, participants can learn how inspiration transforms into an object – without looking like that inspiration at all. Taking shape through basic sketching, wax sculpting and modelling and finishing techniques, by the end of it, they could understand the ‘why’ behind every design they come across, Sonam maintains.
“Apart from the history of my work and experiences, they can learn to find the designer in themselves, using one major tool – imagination.”
